New Crafting Adventure

I'm packing stuff up to go and visit family and do some crafting.  It will be quite an adventure going by train.  I haven't felt up to doing this and still don't but I want to spend Halloween with my family.  Had a shot in my knee to make it mobile again.  Next time I will get shots everywhere to help me move first.  The train doesn't allow for me to have a lot of luggage so Lee is mailing the rest of my stuff.  So I am trying to decide what crafting supplies to take with me.  Apparently we will mostly be baking and getting ready for the Halloween/Birthday party.  I'm hoping to learn some more papercrafting techniques including using the cricut.  Think I will pack my jewelry supplies.  What to make all us witches bracelets!

Danish Days

This weekend we went up to Solvang and hung around the museum.  They had so much to watch and do but we really had a great time with Crystal and watching her make bobbin lace.  She was the person who got us started making bobbin lace and I have done my best to infect others.  She took a lot of time with us and even tried to teach us how to make a pattern so we would understand the process.  It may sound strange but it was excting.  I wish that we could see Crystal more than once a year.

While at the museum I bought a Christmas cutting pattern to make pretty paper ornaments.  They also had a kit for making three dimentional star ornaments.  This year I will be setting up my first Christmas tree as an adult!  I am very excited, planning what to make to decorate the tree.  I can't decide what type of ornaments to use.  I would like to make all of them myself but that is a lot of ornaments.  Good thing I am planning for a small tree!  While in Solvang I also bought a felt ornament kit from Thumbelinas.  It has a gingerbread person, a gingerbread house, a piece of cake, pudding, cupcake and gingerbread people in a basket!  They are so cute!  These kits will be a lot of fun and I plan on asking members of the group if they would like to help me make them.

We also went to the Village Spinning and Weaving shop.  It was fun as always!  I bought two boat shuttles for my current weaving project.  Cherie tried to talk me into buying wire bobbins to make wire bobbin lace.  I would love to make wire lace but I need to get better at regular bobbing lace.  The bobbins weren't that expensive but would have cost $64 for two dozen!  Not in the budget right now! 

The trip was great fun, spending time with great friends.  I'd love to do it again soon but need to recover financially first.

Weaving at Cafe Noir

Cafe Noir opened under new management this month and kindly invited us to craft there again.  So yesterday I took my new loom and weaving book and sat at the front window.  I had finished my first project a plaid baby blanket.  So I decided to try using size 10 crochet thread and threading a double heddle!  It took me three hours to warp five inches.  So this project will be a small sampler scarf. 

There I was in the front window setting up and someone wanted to buy the scarf before I even started!  Throughout the day people came by and spoke to me about crafting and the loom.  It was really fun and I think  it helped the mood of the place.  I believe it is mportant to craft in public so people don't think that many hobbies are gone and to inspire others to be more creative even when drinking coffee.

Lions and Tigers and Beads! Oh My!

This week a giant order from Fire Mountain Gems should arrive.  It is always fun and exciting to receive stuff in the mail but waiting for Fire Mountain is exceptionally so.  They have the most beautiful gemstones in so many sizes and styles it is almost impossible to decide what you want, and then the waiting is sometimes agonizing!  This order I took advantage of their quantity discounts and got several strings of A grade amethysts, which are for me!

I've been waking in the middle of the night with design ideas dancing in my head.  The order included different jaspers, bloodstone, aqua terra, dalmation and rutilated quartz.  Added to that we ordered a ton of beautiful crystals!  I can't wait to start putting combinations together.  The aqua terra is a beautiful stone and I look forward to playing wih it.  Even after making several projects we will have a lot of stones left over.  I'm thinkng of selling some jewelry at Christmas Fairs this year.  Otherwise there will be a lot of great Christmas gifts this year!

I really love making jewelry.  It is one of the easiest hobbies on the body.  It is a fast for gift making, how many hobbies can you make a gift in 10 minutes!  It is a lot of fun and I think everyone should try it!

Saturday's Meeting

Went to Beverly's today to show how to do huck weaving.  No one wanted to try today but we are going to have a class on Friday night.  I want to try and write up a lesson.  I've been working on a craft book and this might make a nice chapter if I include patterns and Swedish Weaving.  Few people realise that huck and Swedish Weaving are two different crafts because they use simular patterns.

So I didn't get a chance to dye any yarn or tea towels today.  Tomorrow I want to go to Morrow Bay to Lina G's.  It would be really fun but I doubt I can manage it .  We will see, I will take pictures if I go!

Hunting Dust Bunnies

The last couple of days have been spent in the hunt and destructon of dust bunnies.  No time for crafting, but I have been able to organize books and supplies.  I've found that the more organized my supplies the less time I waste searching for things.  Today I found some cotton yarn I want to use on my next weaving project. It turn up in a completely different room then I remembered putting it in!  So tomorrow I need to find the dye pot and have some fun!  I'm not sure what color I will use but I do have some scarlet dye.  There are also some tea towels that look like they need to take a dip in the dye pot!  It will be a fun day and the dust bunnies will have to wait until tomorrow!

Adventures in Weaving on a rigid heddle loom

Blogging doesn't really seem to be my thing.  How do you know what others will find interesting enough to read.  Finally I seem to have found something to blog about that is rather a unique hobby.  Two weeks ago I purchased a rigid heddle loom.  There doesn't seem to be a lot on the internet about this type of loom.  So I want and hope to share my adventures in weaving.

I purchased an Ashford rigid heddle loom from The Village Spinning and Weaving shop in Solvang CA, http://www.villagespinweave.com/  Our craft group has been going there for several years and they have always been so kind and helpful to us.  So after a little research on looms I called them up and they had everything I wanted in stock and even put the loom together for me.  The reason I finally decided on the Ashford was the company's reputation and that the loom came in a 32 inch wide weaving area.  So off we went to Solvang to buy a loom and eat pastry!  I can't express the excitement of finally owning a loom, it had been 40 years since I first used a loom.  Since then it has been a nagging desire to get my own loom to use whenever I wanted, it was an incredible high!  I was like a kid getting their first bike.  I also purchased an amazing book, The Weaver's Idea Book, creative cloth on a rigid heddle loom.  It isn't a beginners book.  It shows how using different combinations of color in the warp and weft produce patterns.  The book also shows how to use a double heddle and how to warp it!  So armed with very little beginner information, I've jumped in with both feet.  It is going to be an amazing adventure and I hope I will be able to help other beginning weavers.

A new year and the last one of the decade. I thought I would try and keep a journal, inspired by my sister Patty who is blogging a year of crafting. My ability to craft lately has been difficult and I thought why not share crafting ideas with others who can craft. Maybe someone will find inspiration to make something wonderful!


January 2, I met with friends to craft and talk and laugh. We have a little crafting group called The Santa Maria Valley Crafters and we meet every Saturday to enjoy each others company and of course craft. On Friday evenings we meet to do embroidery.


I worked on a accordian fold journal. The theme is going to be Victorian roses. For the covers I used the flat 6 x 8 painting canvas. It makes a nice heavy cover which is important for this kind of book. I love that I don't have to cut bookboard! I covered the canvas with a piece of handmade paper I bought in a deep red. The rest of the time I spent cutting a rose from a print by Pierre Joseph Redoubte. A lot of intricate cutting that just takes time. While at Beverly's I found some card stock, ink pad and rub on roses that matched the prints colors perfectly! Unfortunately the paper I chose did not match so I have to rethink that part. Perhaps an offwhite paper and then use the ink pad around the edges to soften and blend, then rub on the roses randomly. We will see how it comes out.

This week I worked on cutting out fleece and felt hearts with a Cuttlebug using a diecut. Also tried embossing the hearts but they would not keep the impression. Using simple stitches like buttonhole and straight stitch I layered the hearts and even stuffed the centers. The project was to be several hearts sewn together and then attached to a pinback. I don't know if it will be a class or not at Beverly's but I hope so.

Very little got accomplished this week, I go to the doctors again soon and hopefully they will get me up and doing things again soon. In the mean time I keep working on small projects so it feels like I'm accomplishing something. Next week back to working on the journals so they can be Valentines gifts.